Universal Picks Up Colin Firth's Next Film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

He's been working consistently and brilliantly for the last two decades, but never before has Colin Firth's next career move been so hotly anticipated. The newly minted Oscar winner has several projects coming down the pike, including the caper comedy Gambit with Cameron Diaz, but perhaps the most anticipated is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a British espionage drama featuring a murderer's row of talent: alongside Firth there's Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds, plus promising up-and-comers like Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Graham (Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire) and Christian McKay (star of Me and Orson Welles).

Tinker Tailor was being shopped in incomplete form at the recent European Film Market in Berlin, and now Deadline reports that Universal has picked up the domestic distribution rights to the film, which is director Tomas Alfredson's follow-up to Let the Right One In. Rumor has it that it's a strong vehicle for Oldman, and it wouldn't surprise me to see the film released this fall in time for the next round of Oscar buzz-- a prospect I'm too exhausted at this point to contemplate, but that I'm sure we'll welcome when the time comes. As Oscar season wraps up and we look toward another loud, blockbuster-riddled summer, it's nice to look forward to a film that promises some genuine quality.